Wrong-way crashes often alcohol-related, FHP says

HOLLYWOOD — A predawn wrong-way crash on I-95 in Hollywood on Wednesday didn't just send three women to a hospital. One of the cars also burst into flames.

But such wrong-way incidents are relatively rare.

There were 368 wrong-way crashes in Florida from 2006 to 2010, according to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration, a tiny percentage of the state's 1.2 million crashes in those years.

Nationally, the number of wrong direction crashes jumped from 1,095 in 2006 to 1,770 in 2009, then dipped to 1,665 in 2010.

The crashes are often spectacular. Some frequent factors: It's dark, and drivers are intoxicated.

"Many are alcohol-related," said Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky, while not commenting on Wednesday's crash. "A lot of times, we don't even know exactly where they got on a highway, and we won't know why, because the driver has died."

•James D. Baker, of Boynton Beach, fled to Belize to escape charges from a 2008 crash on I-95 in Boca Raton, in which a woman died. In 2011, he was convicted of DUI manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in a Florida prison.

•In 2011, a Boynton Beach police officer was forced off I-95 by a female driver at 4:30 a.m. and crashed. She was chased by an FHP trooper and arrested on charges of drunk driving.

•Also last year, two men died on I-75 in Pembroke Pines after one drove his pickup truck the wrong way, FHP said of the 1:20 a.m. crash.

Wysocky is at a loss to explain why or how a driver ends up traveling against traffic on South Florida's major highways.

Confused tourists or elderly drivers are rarely involved in such crashes, the trooper says.

Reflective pavement markers shine red for misdirected drivers instead of white. But those safety measures may be lost on drivers who are intoxicated.

In Washington state, a rash of wrong-way collisions in the late 1990s prompted installation of sensors in the pavement of some interstate ramps that activate flashing, runway-type lights and sirens if motorists take the incorrect route.

In Wednesday's crash that is still being investigated, a 2009 Honda Accord driven by Nicole Herrera, 23, of Miami, was traveling north in the southbound inside lane of the interstate, FHP said.

The Accord crashed into a 2006 Chrysler PT Cruiser driven by Azayna Hayes, 24, of Miami, near the I-595/State Road 84 overpass, and the Chrysler was engulfed in flames, Wysocky said.

Both Hayes and her passenger, Amanda Fader, 20, also of Miami, escaped the fire with minor injuries, though Herrera was more seriously injured, a FHP report states.

Another factor that points to their survival, Wysocky said: All the women were wearing seat belts.